I had some throat clenching goodbyes going on when it came time to leave. Pure exhaustion doesn't help dry up goodbyes any quicker either.

So, we are saying goodbye to these guys:

And these guys

And especially these guys

(Also many others who I did not get their pictures)

We are empty! Nothing is left. One minute you are celebrating the holidays in your house and the next minute you are leaving it empty.

Empty. Empty.
The move part was done in three hrs. It was quick and painless thanks to the help we got from the Devin squared, Daniel, Darcia, whipples, and many others who dropped by even though were finished. Morgantown has been good to us and I give most of the credit to the people we have met here. That's what has got me feeling blah. I sure hope we run into these people again.

We're going to try to make a run at Cheyenne today, a 14 hr drive from where we are now. The plains are torture, so I figure why not just get it over with. It may be a stretch, something the Harrises have never attempted, but it will feel so good to have Nebraska done.

Mary Jo is our dear friend/adopted grandma who I used to teach kindergarten with in Harrisburg. She is a kid herself, so she has knack for what my kids are thinking and what they are interested in. She came to help with the kids while Mat and I got moving underway.

Just over these two days they made up funny jingles about Bob Evans (a restaurant like Denny's for you westerners), sang opera songs about her dogs Buster and Ivan, and played a wickedly fun game of charades. Oh the laughter! It is fun to listen to their engaging conversations. My kids get spoiled with love and attention and have been for the last 7 yrs that she was sent to our lives.

When moving day comes, MJ along with her friend Jo Marie, are the perfect hands to put my kids into. They made moving seem so light and breezy.

1) a trip to Chuck E. cheese is always a good way to spend the afternoon

2) Dinner followed by gelato on High Street ---you can't go wrong

The random West Virginia zoo where rules and relations don't apply, is an experience. You can feed the bears whoopie pies through a tube, hold a baby tiger, watch monkeys in onsies with binkies, and find pigs on the loose after they have broken through the holes in the fence. West Virginia, wild and wonderful, that's what it says on our license plates.

A trip to Bob Evans was in order because of all of the little jingles they came up with, they just had to sing them for the waitress in person.

After all that, she even had time to make me a club foot to reach the pedals in my car. The motor in my seat has completely gone out and unfortunately it wont budge me closer to reach the pedals. With moving, we didn't have time to fix it so, we made lemonade out of ...uh cardboard.

She took loads of time to put together snack bags and surprise bags for the kids to open on each day of our trip. Complete with color codes and sticker labels. She even thought of a little tub of quarters just in case they wanted to pop them into a gum ball machine. She also got them glow in the dark toys for the hotel at night in case they needed something new to entertain them. Thoughtful and thorough.

And took them to breakfast, so we could focus on the crazy morning of moving day.

I think she has planted a whole bunch of charity, kindness, and service seeds in me and my kids. She's been a wonderful role model for them and I hope that they will always remember that. Dang i hope they never forget that! Maybe that's why they tried on her glasses, so they can always see what she sees, the good in people. Thank you Mary Jo, my eyes are weepy, so I am going now. (I can't sleep with stuffy crying nose.)

The kids have survived, well Becket barely survives the smell of eggs these days, but he's still hanging on for dear life, breathing through the tiny air holes of his blue blanket. I thought it was funny that he is so appalled.

He even made a gigantic paper fan to swoosh off the egg fog. He is so offended with in the walls of his own home.

I also figured out that I could take off the couch cushion covers and wash them. The actual cushions ended up looking like giant bread slices once they were off, so you know what that means, giant sandwiches covered in pickles(green blanket) and jam (purple blanket).

With the toys packed, we dug for potato bugs and made lavish homes for them. We've had water parties on the deck using disposable bowls and we hot glued pet houses out of card board (You'll notice my neatly folded 13yr old fraying towels, previous post) And, the kids earned their VFD surprise (From the Lemony Snicket Books) for being diligent in doing their summer morning jobs. They were excited to crack the code and learn that MJ and JM were coming to say goodbye. Good thing! I was running out of ways to entertain them other than tv and Iphone apps. (I must say favorite new app, tap the frog).

Monday, June 27, 2011

Our two years has quickly come to an end, like everyone said it would, but I didn't believe them. One minute unpacking, the next, repacking. Here's the family at the goodbye ophthalmology banquet for Mat. Micah of course fell asleep on my lap by the end of the night. At least, she is consistent in her unusual sleep patterns!

When you're in med school, wives dream about getting to this point in their husband's career, "Just ten more years dear, you can do it!" But, I'm going to keep it real for you. Even though we might have a paying job, half of that salary unfortunately goes to student and business loans now. I predict our income will be exactly what it is now, at least for a little while. I need not remind you that we're moving to an apartment do I?

I was recently asked a joking question from a friend, "What are you going to buy now that you are rich?" I have actually dreamed about that question, who doesn't think about what they would do with a little extra cash? It's simple, I want new bath towels. The fluffy, good smelling ones. You see, we've had these bath towels for our whole marriage which is thirteen years in August.

I know, it is rancid thought, but they were durable with a little bleach and they sorta became symbolic to our long road. They have holes, fraying, and even a little stain where Mat cut his chin from shaving. Kind of like our knicks and bruises along our little medical adventure we've taken. I knew after 3 more years (undergrad), 4 more yrs (med school), then 4 more years (residency), and then 2 more years (fellowship), I would be upgrading these babies for new white clouds. I told my friend who jokingly asked the question earlier that I used the towels to clean out the freezer because I am so close to being done with them. Mat asked where they were now and I laughed, because I washed and folded them and set them gently on the dresser. They are still good towels, they can at least help protect stuff in the move.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

We are moving in 4 days and there some moving patterns I have to tell you about.

For one thing, I find it ironic that every time I move, I tend to find something INCREDIBLE for free or at a very low price. Incredible as in; Mat is going to die when I get this home and Lucy has got some splainin' to do. Ask Mel, Cheryl or Jocelyn when we left Hershey, we went to this massive yard sale down the street. Our strollers were a balancing act coming back with all this stuff we NEEDED (scored on a Thomas the Train table for my 2yr old at the time). When we moved from NC, there was this miniature little rocking chair that just kept speaking to me from the side of the road until I told Mat to turn around after a mile had past to return to get it. Of course, in the car he's saying "What for?" and in my head I am thinking of a million ways to justify it so I say "uh, nothing, just saw something" until I could come up with a reason why we had to have it.

This Move, well, this move is explosive! Especially, since we are downsizing houses by going with an apartment. The story, I stopped by the shady furniture store up the street to ask for some plastic to cover my mattresses. The guy tells me in his Marlin Brando voice that I can have whatever I want underneath the stairs outside. Okie dokie sir. While looking for plastic, my eyes zeroed in on THE white bench. I ran back and asked the man "Did you MEAN anything under the stairs?" His mafia face shot me a look like "Don't make me repeat myself woman!" So I stuffed it into my car and peeled out. With a little upholstery redo, because let's face it, this delicate formal fabric is not my style, this piece has potential. The bench even opens up. Joy!

Then I drove by again later that afternoon and found this red leather chair by the dumpster. I love, love, love, it! SWA-ANKY. It must of been my adrenaline pumping with excitement to get that sucker in my red van. probably not the prettiest sight since I was in a skirt.

I cleaned both furniture pieces up and did a thorough check for disgustingness. They both passed my standard. Sorry for misjudging you furniture mafia, I feel like you are family now. What a lucky day! Hmm, now I just have to convince Mat that he is so lucky too!

Psst: They passed Mat's standard of liking them! They furniture gets to stay, well, if they can fit into the truck.....and our apartment.

Monday, June 20, 2011

The Manwarings are back in town! Jared was taking his boards on Monday, so they came for the weekend. I love her like a sister and I am glad we got the chance to hangout before we packed up and moved to the other side of the country. She moved about a month prior, and before that I missed having her as a neighbor. We carpooled, babysat, borrowed sugar and bounced ideas off of each other. I was excited to dive into old times.

Our plan was to rock climb at Coopers but because Mother Nature turned her partly cloudy weather day forecast into all the all day cloudy with rain forecast, we decided to have a BBQ close by at a local park in between raindrops.

Oh how I miss a good baseball game! Jenny was my tricky pitcher.

Father's day was Sunday so I attempted to make a lovely pancake breakfast. I've packed most of my things and I figured pancakes would be simple. Well, they are simple if you read the directions right...baking soda does not equal baking powder and it will leave a sour taste in your mouth. After tasting the first batch, I dumped it down the sink not realizing my mistake. I made a second, dumbed-down version and still didn't realize my mistake. I also burned the second batch while cooking them too. You can't even see them because they are so camouflaged in the pan. So, then I made crepes, this time recognizing my mistake, I used powder instead of soda. People didn't starve like it was fast Sunday, the crepes didn't have a sour after taste and with enough Nutella everyone could choke them down.

After church, I gave Kelli the moving chef challenge (that's supposed to be said into a thundering megaphone). I told her that her secret ingredient was salmon (since I had that in my freezer) and the only rule was that she had to use what was in my house. Naturally, we are competitive so it made it fun and interesting. Kelli made a salmon salad with couscous and edamame and I made salmon covered in olive tapenade wrapped in phyllo dough. Both turned out well and the fruit pizza complimented it afterwards.

We played the rest of the weekend. We caught fireflies at the arboretum, swam with our good friends the Weeds (who I will also miss), and we hung out literally at the park. It will be sad to part from the Manwarings for a bit, but I always hope they will come see us in Utah, just like anyone else passing through! It's the journey this doctor in training biz, I guess I'm just happy to meet all the people that come with it!

Friday, June 17, 2011

What to do? What to do? Packing is one thing, entertaining kids while packing is another.

Luckily, the Harris kids have been pretty much on their own since birth, so they have learned to be adaptive and creative when their driven mother is focused.

Here's what the Harris children have been up to :

1) Secret potion making is always a hit. I have no idea what is in their test tubes, but I do know that it will kill the grass and leave immovable gelatin chunks after heavy rainstorms. The neighborhood kids thought they were geniuses.

2) Building a lemonade stand out of the boxes that were too weak to use for packing. A little paint, a few stakes from the very back dark corner of the garage, and there you have it, totally kid made lemonade stand. Although, when it came time to selling the lemonade, they drank most of it.

3) Cushion houses have been made ever single day of our moving lives from 8AM-Bedtime! Gretchen has not missed a single day and she cries when it has to be taken down. Really? 10hrs isn't enough? She is starting to build two story houses now with windows and a pool (blue blanket). I say go ahead...but it does make the house look like it's disorganized and bombed when they're created. A little discouraging when you have frames and doodads among it.

4) Then there is stuff you clean out that you don't want to packed. I started making a list on the side of my fridge so that I can remember what project bust out when the kids need something new. Like these sand jars. I set it up on the porch and tell them not to come in the house with it (queue mom eye) because I can't stand sand. It's messy. Dust, dust. Glitter is worse and unfortunately, they found the glitter too. Sweep, sweep. Then they filled it with water. Wash, wash. Then they wanted a little paper fish to swim around in their tubes. Pickup, pickup. Sometimes, they're too creative, but this gig got me the whole morning.

5) The sticker chart. What kid doesn't like to see his/her progress in stickers. It also let's them be responsible for their own jobs and keeps me from nagging them every five seconds, like I do during the school year. I told them there was a super secret VFD surprise at the end of the month. VFD corresponds to the Lemony Snicket books we've been listening to, so they are just as excited to find out what VFD stands for.

6) the boob tube. Thank goodness for that! They are currently watching past episodes of Shaun the Sheep. Hilarious. I think I'll take a break and go watch one now.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

After Connecticut, we were headed to MJ's for a special early Princess Party for Miss Micah in Harrisburg. Mary Jo had never thrown a birthday party for Micah like she did Becket and Gretchen, so the ever generous gal that she is wanted to do it for her before we left for SLC. (that makes me a little sad writing that, new subject)

Because we had a little bit of time and because we were all so car sick and/or sick of the car, we stopped at one of our top ten hikes in America; Rickett's Glen. It would be a must in the world of hikers. Waterfall after waterfall. Beautiful.

Don't know why Becket's hand is so endearingly wrapped around my hair, but I'll take that as an "I love you."

We hiked this when Becket was about 11mths old. I tried to capture the same pose with his Daddy, but as you can see, my head remembered them in the opposite direction. Oh well, at least Becket got to crawl on his Dad's back.

Here's Becket 7.9 mths later:

And, while we're at it, here's a few MORE children 7 .8 yrs later (this math is making my head swell, and I'm positive I calculated wrong, so just carry on)

Then we arrived at the Royal Palace, Mary Jo's! What a fun treat to see all the decorating and details she put in for this acting princess. She and Eileen like to make sure these kids are more than loved. The kids were nice and showered with gifts and attention. Thank you.

Joel the neighbor even came by to sing her a lullaby and the other next door neighbors, the Linguses, gave her some birthday money. (Yikers! that reminds me I need to get a thank you note in the mail)

These dogs, Ivan (top) and Buster, (bottom) are also loved too. Here's Micah saying "I LIKE it!"We went for a walk down by the river after a lovely dinner from Italian family restaurant Elecco's. The walk cleared enough room for cake and ice cream.

We took some cake to the Linguses next door too.

The next day we we headed over to Hershey. Mat hadn't been to any of my adventures to PA since Micah was in the womb, so it was fun to show him the renovations around our old stomping grounds. It was, what's the word?...nostalgic to be back where we started, even though we are at the moment finishing what we started. Hmm, is there a better word for that? (Send them to me vocab smartys)

We took a picture of the family at our old UME apartment although it was more like a bunker back then with zero light. We drove around the hospital and downtown Hershey. We even stopped to take one last ride on the chocolate tour at Hershey. We always say it is one last ride, but it never is.

We finished up with lunch at Okini. They've got some wonderful sushi that Mat had only heard about, but never tried. There you have it! Go ahead and get your "Eeewwws!" out if you think it is disgusting, but I'm telling you from the bottom of my sushi heart, it is good sushi. I eat it for breakfast.

I noticed that Mary Jo's shirt matched the take home bag. That explains a lot about Mary Jo. Happy. You also have in the picture, Gretchen getting quacky about her Pringles, the sushi chef always wanting to give candy to the kids, and Eileen's small soup bowl that was magically changed to an extra large soup bowl when Eileen wasn't looking. It was a riot to see her face when it was brought to her.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

So we left Boston with Uncle Brian and Aunt Cassandra standing in the parking lot of the beautiful Boston Chapel. Brian has a load of business on Sunday being in the bishopric and we had a 4hr drive to Connecticut, so we scooted out. We told them we would try to be back for the actual marathon.

We decided to take the scenic route by way of Newport, RI where we discovered the Awful, Awful. The Awful, Awful is a milkshake which isn't so awful, unless you're counting calories. Very tasty, very well known to the locals. (thanks Julie for the tip)

We then landed ourselves in the middle of Newport. It's where some of the wealthiest people summered in their hardly even of a cottage homes. The Breakers were owned by the Vanderbuilt's. The house only had a few bedrooms in it, and the rest of the mansion was used for entertaining. Quite the Fancy Nancy social life.

We've driven by the Breakers before when Becket was a wee 6mths, but it was rainy and dismal. This time we could see the house by it's beautiful cliff dwellings and blooming flowers. I think they needed more money.

We then ran into the Old Mill, a mysterious and ancient structure that is located in the middle of town. We also ran into a very exciting and fast talker tour guide who asked us to join his tour. I thought he was nice and we learned a lot. Nobody knows what this is or when it is dated. The tour guide proved most theories wrong and said it was probably and astrological calendar of sorts dating back to the 1500s. (Bob would find this interesting Andrea) It made me want to come see it on the winter solstice, December 21st (my birthday), but then I realized I wouldn't be wearing my light summer clothes.

Did I ever tell you about how I almost died when I was born, December 21st? The cord was wrapped around my neck 4 times? If you haven't heard it, you should.

Next was the Tennis Hall of Fame where the first US Championship was held. It was neat to see the nicely groomed grass court. I'm glad they let you walk in to view it without having to pay the hefty museum price.

Then we arrived in Connecticut at our dear old neighbor's house from NC, the Oswald's. Our backyards used to touch in Durham. We would have game night now and then and we would wave to each other as we mowed our lawns. It was fun catching up with them after two years. They are very normal and down to earth people. Kolby can pull some funny faces when he is imitating his 2yr old too!

weekly flow

Playing fruit basket game in the pool where you choose categories to pick from. When it was Becket's turn he chose endangered animals for 1 and diseases for the 2nd one. The kids looked pretty clueless on choosing items that fell under these categories.

Gretchen could know longer wait to get her teeth brushed by her Dad. "Dad, do you know what this is? A toothbrush. You know what you do with it? Brush your teeth."

Gretchen singing: "Made in China" to the familiar Disney Tune.

Micah singing: "That's a bunch of bologna!"

Becket listening to the RC Wiley commercial in the car and their advertisement for free hotdogs: "Hotdogs, they're nice."